JERUSALEM, Thursday, November 22, 2018 (WAFA) – The European Union on Thursday crowned the Nour al-Quds school in Beit Hanina Park, north of Jerusalem, for winning the "Jerusalemite Green School" award.
The green works of art that competed together in the contest came from eight East Jerusalem elementary schools. The recyclable materials used to construct the artistic projects were previously collected by the students themselves from the streets of East Jerusalem as part the EU initiative "My Green Jerusalem." The crowning event was organized in partnership with the EU civil society partners.
The initiative comes as part of the EU East Jerusalem Programm. The programme works towards supporting the resilience of the Palestinian residents and the Palestinian character of East Jerusalem.
The "Jerusalemite Green School" contest included eight schools in East Jerusalem and over 200 students. Families and parents have also joined the event. After the competing school teams collected the recyclable materials to construct the green works of art, they have received training on how to transfer trash into a piece of art as well as on the trash situation in East Jerusalem.
The completed pieces were judged by a panel consisting of representatives from the European Union, CESVI, and Ahed Izhiman, an artist from East Jerusalem. Nour al-Quds School was crowned as the "Green Jerusalemite School" as they have shown a high level of innovation, creativity, and sustainability in their piece of art.
After winning the wooden trophy, Mohammad from Nour al Quds School said that "this trophy is not just for our school; it is for all the schools and students who participated in cleaning up the streets of East Jerusalem. It is our responsibility not to leave our city dirty. It is also fun to transform waste into something that we can use to remind ourselves of the impact of recycling."
Lama from Shabat Muslimat School in Wadi Al Joz was excited about the event and shared an idea of introducing vending machines around East Jerusalem where one can exchange plastic items and receive tokens for prizes.
The EU Representative Ralph Tarraf said on the occasion, “We are proud to support the "Jerusalemite Green School" initiative in East Jerusalem. The process of transforming trash to pieces of art by students is remarkable. This is an opportunity to thank our partners in East Jerusalem for their cooperation on this initiative. We might have crowned only one winning school today. Yet, all students and all schools are winners. In fact, all Palestinians in East Jerusalem have won the clean streets of the city.”
M.N
